


The House Of Misfit Geniuses

by Jellybean



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 11:11:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1646510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean/pseuds/Jellybean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a young Antonia Stark suffers the loss of her parents, her only family will become a house full of young geniuses like herself. The group has to learn how to live with each other, and to be the geniuses they are. In college. It’s a  journey that will test every one of them. The house of misfit geniuses will fall in and out of love, fight for their independence, and learn things about themselves they never dreamed of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. we're just a box of souvenirs

**Author's Note:**

> A collab with captainandbucky.tumblr.com (i'm blueberryfudgesauce.tumblr.com), yes we should both probably be focusing on things that aren't this but you know what fux wit me son.
> 
> (Basically we wrote a thing because i saw this - katinca.tumblr.com/post/83843937883 - and messaged my friend screaming about genderswap stucky and somehow we ended up with a genderswap avengers college au ft. bucky barnes don't even ask me i genuinely don't even know)
> 
> Also on ff.n if you prefer it over there: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10355541/1/The-House-Of-Misfit-Geniuses

Antonia Stark was alive, and her parents were dead in coffins in front of her, and the only thing she could think about is how angry she really was. She had a rage filling her chest, and she was angry at the dead people inside the boxes in front of her. They had been driving, the road was icy, and the car just flipped. There were so many possible decisions her parents could have made that night, and still they chose to die with each other. It was torture to Toni that she lived whilst her greedy parents died, not even caring about her.

She turned her head to the side, glancing at the people who were attending the funeral of her parents; mostly politicians, a few relatives, and two friends of her father’s that she’d never properly met, but seemed to always be around when the atmosphere around her house was the most tense.

Antonia bowed her head when the man glanced at her, the eyepatch covering one of his eyes doing nothing to lessen the intensity of his stare. The girl took in a deep breath and uttered a quick “excuse me” to the people surrounding her, quickly walking away from the coffins that had not yet been lowered and fumbling around in her bag for her car keys.

“Miss Stark.” she heard someone come up behind her, but kept her eyes ahead and didn’t stop walking or acknowledge their presence until they grabbed her arm.

She stopped and turned to glance at them, “What?” she said irritably.

"Why are you leaving." the man with the eyepatch asked, "it's your parents' funeral."

"I don't know - maybe it's because I dont want to be here?" she said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow slightly before turning and continuing to walk towards her calistening to him as he continued to walk beside her, saying her name quietly. "Look - you're Fury, right? I get it, you were Pa's friend, but I really don’t care about anything you have to say to me." she said, unlocking her car and sliding into the driver's seat, not giving the man a chance to reply before she sped away.

~*~*~*~

The next three days -or was it four?- were a blur for Toni, she managed to reduce her parent's alcohol collection by 25%. A few windows were broken, lots of the art collection was either sold, donated or had been hurled across the room and/or shot at. She hadn't washed her hair in that time, and had taken to sitting in the bath with a bottle of scotch rather than properly showering.

She was coping just fine. Not that it was any different to when her parents were alive, she hardly ever saw or interacted with them before like normal families - so now she could do whatever she wanted and not get a lecture.

The doorbell rang on the fourth or fifth day, forcing Antonia to be presentable for visitors. She mainly just wore a robe that her father had once owned. She went to the door and saw the man with the eyepatch from the funeral. Fury. She rolled her eyes, and walked back inside, trying to get another drink.

“What do you want Fury? I thought we ended our discussion days ago?” She managed to stumble over to the bar, and pour herself the expensive whiskey, a drink she was not always fond of, but after her parents’ passing, she had taken quite a liking to.

“You aren’t 18 yet. Technically, you’re under my protection until such time” Fury took the whiskey bottle away from Toni, and she remained unamused and almost depressed.

“I just turned 17, you realise it doesn’t actually matter” Toni picked up her glass and walked over to the couch. She fell onto the couch, and began to drink down the hard liquor. It burned her throat, and filled the emptiness in her stomach.

“I honestly don’t want to, but it was your parents request, so I’m going to uphold that” Fury stood, with his eye becoming angrier than Toni had ever seen, and then he clicked his fingers. Swarms of men began to enter the house, and moved down to the basement, which was where Toni would work on her engines for cars, one’s which she had fallen in love with over time.

“Am I supposed to leave my home and go live with you?” Toni stood, and tried to inspect what these men were actually doing.

“Not me. You’ll be with other exceptional and bright minds like yourself” He recited, like he had been practising.

“Exceptional and bright minds like me? Honestly?” Toni questioned. “You’re taking all my equipment aren’t you?” She said in a monotone manner, knowing full well that was what they were doing. They carried tools and large bundles of metal she had been trying to weld together. She was a robotics major as well as a master in engineering. She considered herself ‘beyond a genius’.

“They’re kids around your age, and intelligent and geniuses just like you” Fury said, guiding Toni up to her room. She turned to him before narrowing her brow.

“Geniuses like me? You’re not serious? Do you really think these other kids are geniuses?” Fury simply kept guiding Toni to her room before.

“Be ready 20, otherwise, that robe will be the only thing you own” He gave her a final push into her room, and she huffed giving in, and packing her bag. She may have missed her parents more than she let on now.

~*~*~*~

Toni stood in front of the door, and read the banner above the entrance. ‘The home of Extraordinary Students’ and under it written in paint ‘Working Title’. Toni rolled her eyes, not understanding why exactly she had to move into this particular house with all these other intelligent young people. She was going to knock, but the door swung open before her hand hit the door. A boy, with velvet red hair was laughing, and stopped suddenly as he was walking out the door. His brow narrowed, and stepped back. He was a tall boy, a tough jaw, and a smile that could help cure sadness in almost anyone. He was tall, and wore all black, though, like a businessman, not like the teenager he obviously was. Toni smiled, and waved slightly. “Hi” she said simply, and the boy turned back inside to the house.

“The new kid is here” He yelled, picked up a bag from the floor. It rattled around, so Toni gathered it was garbage, so hence why he was leaving the house. As he turned, Toni did notice something, a red mark under his collar. Toni bit her lip, knowing full well it was a lipstick mark.

“You might want to wash that off” Toni whispered, and touched a spot on his neck. He hid the mark immediately as she touched it, and he walked past her. Toni picked up her bags, and walked inside. There was arguing in the back, most likely the kitchen, but soon after, there was smashing of plates. Toni didn’t want to be in this house anymore.

“I’m Nathan Romanoff” the boy from before whispered in her ear, making Toni jump. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the rest of them” He still had his hand pressed to his neck, and was rubbing  the lipstick mark off. He pushed her back, and she almost felt like she was being forced into a war where there was no going back. A small girl, maybe 17 years of age, like Toni, stood on a kitchen counter, with a plate held in her hand. She had long black hair, and an adorable face for someone who looked so angry. She was still in her pajamas, and her large shirt prevented a lot of physical movement, so when she was threatening with breaking another plate, she had to keep adjusting everything. Her face was angry, and her voice was loud when she yelled.   
“Which one of you idiots left my research out in the rain!? It’s always in my room, and somehow managed to get outside, so who did it” She yelled, and Toni was shocked, but the others in the room seemed to not mind. A tall blonde girl was looking at an old weapon, maybe a hammer from a couple of centuries before. She was wiping it clean, and simply smiled as the girl got angry. She was a particularly large girl in muscles, as if she had worked out quite a lot and may have to do heavy lifting on most occasions. She seemed to be ready in appearance; a band t-shirt with a red flannel shirt over the top with loose jeans and heavy-duty boots. The small girl finally smashed the plate on the ground, and the blonde girl yelled in excitement “Another!” and laughed loudly. Everyone else in the room groaned, and Nathan walked over to the girl on the counter.

“Brie, calm down. Listen to me” He started, and the girl looked down at him, with a sense of guilt growing on her face. She started to sit down on the kitchen counter rather than stand, and Nathan held her hands. “You were working on your research yesterday afternoon, your equipment was overheating, so you went outside, remember” Nathan talked slowly, and Brie nodded, trying to recall. She wrapped her arms around him, almost like she was going to cry. A murmured ‘I’m Sorry’ came from the girl, and she hugged the boy tighter. There were three others seated in the corner of the long island counter, paying little to no attention to what was actually going on. One of them was hidden behind a large newspaper, so Toni couldn’t make them out, right next to them was a girl eating toast, but looked like she had been through a war. She had dark hair, and a soft looking face, other than her tired eyes which made her seem like she was an angry soldier ready for battle. She wore jeans, and an old grey shirt that was too big for her. On the opposite side of the counter  was a girl, blonde, in tight boxers and a black shirt like one Nathan would wear, stretched out and was firing arrows out the window. This was a strange house, and Toni questioned why she was there again. The girl firing the arrows turned around when Brie climbed down from the kitchen counter. She noticed Toni, and walked over to Nathan.

“Introduce us, Nate” She asked, jumping on his back. It was an unusual act, but the girl planted a kiss on the top of his head, and giggled knowing she was embarrassing Nathan. He rolled his eyes, and began to introduce people.

“The little one here is Brielle Banner. The blonde one with the hammer is Thelia Odinson. One on my back is Clara Barton, she likes to pretend she’s a bird. The one behind the paper is Stevie Rogers. And the one next to her is Buckie. Sorry, Jamie Barnes” The girl behind the paper simply waved above its edge, and Jamie gave a slight raise of her brow to indicate she knows the new person is in the room. As Toni inspected Jamie, she noticed something she hadn’t before. Jamie’s left arm was artificial, a stiff prosthetic arm. It wasn’t robotic, and it didn’t move like a normal arm; it was there to stop the stares, Toni guessed. Although, it didn’t stop Toni from staring. Jamie saw Toni, and stood.

“What are you staring at?” Jamie asked, and Stevie lowered her paper. She was blonde, and smaller than Jamie, with a kind face and a worried look gracing her brow.

“Buckie ...” Stevie warned.

“I think you know why I’m staring” Toni said, knowing full well it will spark something in Jamie. Jamie fiddled inside her pocket, then finally pulled out a butterfly knife. She flicked it open, and Toni packed away, but decided to step back to her original position to show she wasn’t scared. “You carry around a butterfly knife. Really?” Toni said sarcastically. Everyone seemed to shake their head at Toni’s decision. Stevie stood up, and came between Jamie and Toni.

“We don’t even know your name and you feel the need to insult us?” Stevie said sternly, managing to look like a threat despite her petite shape.

“I’m Antonia Stark, I go by Toni mostly, I’m surprised you don’t know me”

“Famous party girl whose parents died,” Nathan said.

“And you didn’t care one bit. Yeah, we know you” Clara finished, smirking. Brie started to boil water in a kettle out of awkwardness. Toni didn’t like the fact that people thought she didn’t care about her parents. She loved her parents, though they weren’t all that relient, she was just angry at them for not saying something to her. And now she’s away from home, and she could never be close to her parents for another year. Toni chuckled slightly, trying to shake off the feeling in her chest, before turning back to Jamie and Stevie

“I’m not insulting you, I’m just stating that your arm attracts more attention than it prevents. I could to a way better job than that”

“What are you talking about, Stark?”  Jamie asked, and Stevie lowered Jamie’s hand. Jamie fiddled with the knife, tucking it back in her pocket. As Toni looked at Stevie briefly, she saw that she was softer, with a protectiveness over others. She wore pajamas, just a simple shirt and shorts, and walked like she was on glass.

“I’m a robotics technician, engineering major and a genius in nearly everything I’ve ever learnt, I could make the best robotic arm for you, and have it as realistic as you want. Though, from the threat of the butterfly knife, I might have to delay any request for it”

“We don’t want to hear-” Stevie began, but was interrupted by Jamie.

“You can make me an arm?” Jamie almost became speechless

“On one condition” Toni said, sticking her hands in her pockets.

“What?” Jamie questioned.

“You have to tell me how you lost it” The room went quiet and still as Toni announced her request. Jamie shifted uneasily, before storming out of the room. “What? It’s just a simple question.” Toni said, an innocent smile crossing her face

Stevie glared at her before sighing heavily, “Buckie.” she called, walking out of the room in pursuit of her friend.

“Go put your stuff in your room. Third floor, furthest on the left. Away from everyone else” Brie said, walking behind Jamie and Stevie. Nathan, Clara and Thelia moved with the rest of them, and Antonia was left on her own in the kitchen. She sighed, got the boiling water from the kettle, grabbed a mug and made the strongest irish coffee she could under the circumstances.

 

 


	2. When You’ve got nothing, You’ve got nothing to lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We were meant to update on tuesday but shit happens much sorry guys everything is such.  
> {also on ff.n}  
> {i don't know if i mentioned the playlist but I made the playlist ages ago to help us with writing: http://8tracks.com/vanillacandles/you-sons-of-bitches-are-going-to-college}

Brielle Banner groaned her way into semi-consciousness, with a paper due within the fortnight, she'd stumbled into her bed the night before at 2am after her equipment decided to have a minor (major) meltdown. She had been requested to come to ‘The Home Of Extraordinary Students’ little over a year ago, as she was working on quantum physics as a 16 year old, and apparently that was a big deal for people, so she moved in, and adjusted quickly. The home itself was large, with more rooms than they needed, and was 4 stories high. Many of her other roommates lived on the second floor, but Brie spent most of her time on the third, as it had most of her equipment. The fourth floor was mainly for Thelia, Nathan and Stevie. They worked on completely different things, but it was peaceful up there, and they had separate areas for each of them to work. Brie had to say, she did enjoy looking at Stevie’s art when she was finished, and Thelia’s weapons were unbelievably beautiful and the way she would describe them was breathtaking. Nathan kept to himself, which Brie respected, and he usually just said it was research, but Brie never really bothered to ask what on. Clara worked down stairs in the garage most days, either working on a car someone had brought in or to adjust secret arrows with special elements on them. Some were acid, some were grappling lines, and others were nets. Clara was smarter than she looked, but she also got her arrows mixed up, so she was a little bit clumsy.

Brie threw her arm out to the side and grabbed around on her bedside table, trying to find her glasses. "Shit." she muttered when she heard the sound of something falling to the floor, giving up on her search for her glasses before pulling herself out of the bed and searching for a pair of pants in the mess that was her room.

Eventually she found a longer pair of pyjama pants, and pulled them on before leaving her room and walking down the hallway and stairs to the kitchen, ready to make herself and coffee, she squinted at the figure sitting hunched over the table, "Hey" she muttered, walking into the kitchen and setting the kettle to boil, "Want coffee?"

"No, Miss Banner. I’m not staying."

Brie jumped at the unexpected voice, almost dropping her mug, "Has knocking gone out of fashion in your department, Fury?" she asked, not turning around to face the man.

"Just wanted to remind you about the new pupil we have moving in to your quarters today." He said, moving the chair out from under him, a sound which Brie had learned to memorise without her glasses. The accidents that have happened from no glasses Brie have been staggering, and the tally had grown on the board on the fridge.

"Your late friend Howard's daughter? I know." Brie continued to pour herself coffee, yawning quite loudly from lack of sleep.

"Just wanted to remind you, she's not exactly - how do i put this kindly -" he hesitated for a moment, trying to find a word.

"- tolerable? I know." she assured him, "If you're worried I'm going to snap and accidentally pull off her arm or something, you have nothing to worry about." She remarked, and laughed to herself.

"Who said what about missing arms." Jamie muttered as she entered the room, stumbling her way right into the kitchen counters, "Fuck." she groaned, "I find that uncharacteristically insensitive of you Brielle." Jamie smiled, handing Brie her glasses like she did most mornings. Jamie was kind to Brie, even when she might have said something to upset her. Brie placed her glasses on before Jamie ruffled Brie’s dark black hair that had already been messed up from a bun and restless sleep.

“Well, now that you’ve gotten the message, I’ll trust to to send my regards to the rest. Good bye, Miss Banner, Miss Barnes.” The two girls saluted Fury out of habit, as they all liked to make fun of the fact that he sounds like a commanding officer.

Jamie leaned on the counter, and Brie turned to her, finally seeing what Jamie looked like this morning. She was tired, probably got as much sleep as Brie did, maybe less.

“How did you sleep?” Brie asked, handing Jamie the ready to drink coffee, instead of having it herself.

Jamie smiled at the smaller girl, taking the coffee gratefully and appreciating the warmth that spread through her hand, “In a blanket fort.” she said fondly.

“Steph trying to unlock the secrets of blanket forts again?” Brie asked knowingly, chuckling slightly.

“Spot on. And the thing is, I would’ve left her to sleep in the fort herself, but she took my fucking mattress.” Jamie said, using her foot to pull a stool from underneath the counter and hopping onto it, cursing as some of her coffee slipped from the mug and onto her thin pyjama pants.

Brie pulled the cup from Jamie’s hand, switching it with a napkin for the girl to wipe it with, “You do this every morning, when will you learn?” Brie asked, smiling warmly at Jamie as she wiped the counter down.

“Buckie,” they heard Stevie’s quiet voice from down the hall, “Buckie?”

“In the kitchen, Stevie.” Jamie called, trying to be quiet so as to not wake up everyone else.

“Why does she call you Buckie?” Brie asked, pulling down a mug for the girl and putting a tea bag and a sugar inside before pouring water inside, knowing that Stevie preferred tea over coffee.

“It’s because of her middle name,” Stevie answered for her, walking into the room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her hair resembling a nest, “‘sides” she said, sliding onto the stool next to Buckie, “suits her better.” she giggled, kissing the girl’s cheek before taking her tea from Brie, “thank you.”

“Can you put some bread in the toaster, I’m starving” Jamie said, ducking her head and smiling. Brie pulled the toaster out as Jamie got up, and exited the front door, most likely to get the newspaper for Stevie. They knew each other more than any other person in the house; except for probably Nathan and Clara. Brie turned back to Stevie, and smiled at her, the girls had grown surprisingly close in their time living together, and Brie considered Stevie to be one of her closest friends.

“The new girl is coming today.”  Brie said flatly as she filled the toaster.

“What new girl” Clara asked as she walked into the kitchen.

“You never pay attention” Nathan said as her followed her through the doorway, catching her around the waist and kissing  the back of her neck, “I don’t know how you have such a good aim when your attention span is as small as it is.” he teased. Jamie walked back inside, handing the newspaper to Stevie who smiled brightly at her.

“Thelia! Coffee is getting cold! It’s your favourite blend!” Brie called out, and a thud came from upstairs, which indicated to everyone that Thelia had rolled out of bed yet again. Clara had gone outside to fetch her bow and arrow as she did every morning, trying to annoy the neighbours with her dangerous antics, and came back with papers that were soaking wet. She placed them on the bench, and Clara then tossed Nathan a bag of garbage.

“Chuck it out big boy” Clara smirked, and there was a collective sigh as everyone rolled their eyes, knowing that flirting would only come of their interaction.

“What else am I good for?” Nathan asked,

“Not much else,” Clara kissed Nathan’s neck, and he started to laugh as he left the house. Thelia came down the stairs and sat on the other end of the bench as she carried one of the old hammers she had recently fallen in love with for her ancient weaponry class. She started to polish it, and looked at the papers next to her.

“Brie, isn’t this your research for that assignment due in 2 weeks” She said, yawning, then returning to her hammer. Brie looked at the papers, and an anger built inside her chest.

“Who did this?” She asked, trying to remain calm, but it didn’t last long. It never did. “Who the hell did this?!” She yelled, and stood on the counter. No one looked at her, and she took the plates from the counter, and smashed one on the floor, another held over the edge threateningly. “WHO LEFT MY RESEARCH OUT IN THE RAIN.”  she kept yelling, smashing another plate on the floor, hardly hearing Thelia’s yell of ‘another’ over the pounding in her head.

“Hey, Brie, look at me. Brie, calm down. Listen to me.” she looked and saw Nathan standing in front of her. The girl felt a frown cross her face and knew that her guilt was showing, her knees almost gave out as she sunk down to sit on the counter rather than stand on it. As soon as she’d steadied herself, Nathan grabbed her hands, “You were working on your research yesterday afternoon, your equipment was overheating so you went outside to work on the theory, remember?” Nathan spoke calmly to Brie, and she eventually calmed herself down with the help of Nathan, somehow ending up with his arms wrapped around her, “You’re alright.” he whispered into her ear.

“I’m sorry.” Brie muttered into his shirt, pulling away and smiling up at him before turning her back and walking from the room to calm herself down.

When she re-entered the room, Nathan was in the process of introducing everyone to the new girl, and Brie scoffed when Nathan referred to her as ‘the little one’, shaking her head at him and she bent to sweep up the mess of glass she’d made. It wasn’t long before. Antonia Stark began antagonising everyone. Brie was thankful that Antonia hadn’t decided to pick on her for the little … scene she’d just witnessed.  Brie thought she could possibly cry, maybe even snap at the other girl and then Clara would bet on who would win. Clara always bet on Brie when it came to fights, physical or verbal. Antonia soon looked at Brie, and gave a small, somewhat friendly smile, but as Nathan and Clara began talking about her parents her smile dropped and didn’t appear to be as authentic. Brie felt sorry for Toni, and began inspecting her more, trying to figure this ‘party-girl’ out. She was taller than Clara, which wasn’t a great thing to accomplish as everyone was taller than Clara, except for Brie. Toni had black hair, but longer than what Brie’s was. She had a tough jaw, and looked to have the upper body strength of someone who had to lift heavy equipment. Her hands were coarse and tough, as though she had to work with her hands a lot. Brie suspected that Toni was a scientist, and her attire matched that. Sweatpants and an old shirt that had random irremovable stains.

Everything went to figurative shit when Toni decided it’d be fun to ask Jamie what happened to her missing arm. It resulted in Jamie storming out with Stevie hot on her heels, and before Brie followed the girls she shot an angry look at Toni, “Go put your stuff in your room. Third floor, furthest on the left. Away from everyone else” She said, and left the room in pursuit of Jamie and Stevie.

Jamie had collapsed onto her bed, well, mattress on Stevie’s floor. Jamie just sat there, not moving, almost catatonic, and Stevie looked more worried than ever.

Stevie sighed before sitting on the mattress, close to Jamie, “What’s wrong? Buckie, it’s okay. You know that we all understand.” she said softly, taking Jamie’s prosthetic hand in hers.

Brie nodded in agreement when Jamie looked up, “She’s right, we all know you kept it a secret until you were ready to tell us. Don’t get upset over an annoying brat like her.” Brie reassured her.

Jamie didn’t say anything, but instead, touched the artificial arm that replaced her missing one.  “I want to be able to move my arm again. To be able to do things and not have to worry about people staring.” Jamie muttered, and tucked her face into her knees.

Brie sighed, and could feel the rage building in her chest again, it’d been a while since Jamie had acted this way, and Brie suspected that Toni wouldn’t stop acting the way she did, which could cause a bit of drama. She decided to leave Stevie to talk it over with Jamie and walked up to the next floor, taking the left instead of the right as she was used to. She opened the door and saw Toni had moved her bags around a large amount of metal equipment.

“That was rude of you, Toni.” Brie said as Toni started to set up the equipment that movers had placed in her room before she arrived. She wiped her forehead, and sat on the mattress that the room had supplied.

“Well, I’m glad my reputation has gone untainted” She combed back her hair, and gave a slight smirk without looking up from what she was doing.

“How dare you ask someone how they lost their arm! How could you be so insensitive. You have no idea what she’s been through.” Brie yelled, and she could feel the anger in her chest subsiding, though she still wanted to remain angry with Toni.

“Wouldn’t it be better if she embraced what she has been through instead of forgetting it?” she asked, finally looking up at Brie, “Because, the thing is, she’ll never forget. She’ll repress it, sure, and it will haunt her” Toni explained, standing up, placing her hand on some of her equipment. “I can do so much more than help Jamie. She just needs to help herself first.” Toni sighed, and smiled warmly at Brie.

“You’re nice when you aren’t being an ass to people” Brie smiled, and Toni laughed.

“Damn, I was hoping I would remain the heartless bitch people made me out to be.” Toni said sarcastically, like she had been called that so many times before it hardly even mattered to her anymore.

“You aren’t going to get many friends in this place if you’re so rude” Brie said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at the taller girl.

“Not in my personality guidelines, but I’ll work on it,” Toni offered, though her sarcasm was blatantly obvious. Brie shook her head and walked down the hall to her own room.

“Wait. So you’re working on quantum physics, right?” Toni had run up behind Brie and grabbed her arm, “I saw your room before accidently, quantum physics was everywhere as well as gammaradition. So are you working on it.” Toni asked, and Brie realised she was staring at Toni with a blank face. Brie nodded and Toni bit her lip. “You and I should work together some time.” And Toni moved back into her room. Brie rubbed the back of her neck, walking into her room, and deciding to redo her research. Maybe she would get Toni’s help after all.


	3. sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!! Huge chapter man like one of the biggest ones we've written I'm sah proud. Hope you guys like it *.* Y'all can probably expect regular Thursday updates, unless we've got major stuff going on - then we'll try as hard as we can not to delay chapters too much (this won't happen for a while guys we promise) 
> 
> Enjoy xx

It took Jamie a week to gather her wits and approach Toni about taking up her offer. A week of weighing up pros and cons with Brie and Clara, and talking about the emotional strain it may cause with Stevie and Nathan. Thelia didn’t seem overly interested in the matter, and didn’t seem to particularly care, even when people asked her directly for her opinion on the matter, she gave a noncommittal grunt without ceasing work on the hammer she’d probably stolen from the museum at the college.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for Jamie to do something, and she kind of hated how much scrutiny she was under - it reminded her of when she’d first moved into the house, and everyone was a bit -for lack of a better word- obsessed with her.

On the morning of Toni’s eighth day at the house Jamie woke up earlier than usual and found Toni sitting at the table, cradling a cup of coffee. “Want a refill?” she asked tentatively, pouring some coffee for herself.

“Not unless it’s Irish.” she said, a faint streak of humour in her voice.

Jamie laughed and shook her head, “There’s hardly any alcohol in the house. Stevie hates the stuff, bless her soul. She’s confiscated it off Nate and Clara before, but I’m pretty sure -” she reached into the cupboard above her, feeling around before; “-aha!” she grinned as she turned to face the Toni. “Nate always says go big or go home.” she muttered, pouring some into her cup and taking the bottle to Toni. “Got it imported, he did. Said something about connections in Russia getting him the good stuff.” she shook her head, setting her coffee cup down on the table and sliding into the chair opposite Toni. Jamie took a sip of her coffee, and she didn't understand why she was being so nice to Toni when she had been so arrogant to her. Toni poured more alcohol into her mug, and she looked over at Jamie for a moment.

"You can't let your arm hold you back," Toni said, and took a large amount Irish coffee into her mouth, swallowing it hard.

"I honestly have no idea what you’re on about,” Jamie said, and before she could take another sip of her coffee, Toni poured more alcohol into the mug.

“You have gone through some traumatic shit, obviously. I could see that the moment I saw you. You were damaged, and the arm was just the physical wound it left you. There’s stuff going on up here,” Toni tapped her head, “That you aren’t letting yourself deal with. I just want you to be prepared for the pain that a new robotic arm might leave you. You don’t need the extra weight on your soul. Trust me. I have hundreds of demons I have to deal with that can never be dealt with now,” Toni’s voice was bitter, but Jamie could hear the sorrow in her tone, like she had been through hell and seen the darkest thing to world could ever conjure up.

“When you say that, are you referring to your parents?” Jamie asked, though she felt like she was stepping over the line.

“Demons grow stronger when things die. You kind of wish you could say goodbye, y’know?” Toni took the bottle of alcohol, drinking some of it before getting up and leaving to go upstairs where she had been the last week. She spent most of her time in there, and not many of the other house members talked to her, other than Brie. “Tell Brie I’ve got to weld today, so I can’t help her with her research” Toni turned around once more, and looked seriously at Jamie. “And Jamie, the offer still stands. Tell me about your arm, and I will give you the best arm you’ve ever seen,” she said confidently as she left the room.

~*~*~*~

Jamie sat in the kitchen, not moving from where she and Toni had talked in the early hours of the morning, her Irish coffee had grown cold, making the alcohol sink to the bottom of her mug. Thelia had stumbled downstairs as she always did at around 1pm on her bad days. Thelia waved to Jamie with the hammer she was favouring for the longest period of time.

“I think this hammer needs a test run later. Unless we have other plans” Thelia yawned, and placed her hammer on the bench. She managed to walk over to the fridge and get herself some milk for her coffee. With the way that she held herself, Jamie didn’t understand how Thelia was able to stand.

“I think the drinking game needs to be sorted this afternoon, but other than that, go for it,” Jamie said, and Thelia examined her weapon once more. She inspected it like she was microscope, making sure every inch of the hammer was perfect.

“Thelia. I know you haven’t said anything about this whole arm situation, but, what is your honest opinion on it?” Jamie asked, adjusting herself in her seat. Thelia took the seat next to Jamie, smiling at her.

“Jamie, I will only say this once,” Thelia looked up from the hammer she’d developed quite an attachment to, “You can do whatever you feel is necessary for you, and I will support you one hundred percent. I do not care what that decision is, as long as it makes you happy.” she smiled at the dark haired girl, “But you must not do anything before you are ready to, okay?”

“Well aren’t you a wise motherfucker.” Jamie said, bursting out laughing, before calming down slightly, “Thank you Thelia, you have surprised me yet again.”

“I love it when I do that,” she said loudly, before holding up her hammer “How does it look?” Thelia asked.

Jamie nodded as she stood up, chuckling and patting Thelia on the back, “Just return it before they notice you’ve stolen it.”

“I DIDN’T STEAL IT!” she yelled in her friends direction, and Jamie heard her muttering something about only the worthy being able to handle the hammer. Jamie shook her head softly before heading up the stairs to her bedroom.

~*~*~*~

Jamie finally approached Toni another three days later, not bothering to knock on the door before opening it wide and peering in, “Next week, do you have any assignments?” Jamie asked, leaning on Toni’s door. Toni hit the wrench to the top of her equipment and muttered to herself. She shook her head, and grabbed the cloth from her tool box. “You’ve got some work to do on my arm.” Jamie told her, “I’ll tell you the story as soon as I think you’ve proven yourself.” she said innocently, smiling when the girl looked up questioningly.

“What is that meant to mean?” she asked, scrunching her brow.

“This wouldn’t be college without an initiation now would it?” Jamie asked her, laughing as she closed the other girls door. She walked down the corridor and down the stairs into the wide living room to find Clara lying on the couch with a laptop on her stomach, typing rapidly and laughing every few moments.

“Oi, Clara.” Jamie said, walking into the room.

“Yeah, what’s up.” she said, eyes fixated on the screen.

“Where’s Nate?” Jamie asked.

“In the library, the fucking nerd.”  Clara said, looking up from the screen, “Why?”

“Just need to tell him something,” Jamie said, sinking into an armchair and pulling her tablet off the coffee table, “You spent any time with Antonia yet?” Jamie asked.

“Nah, she thinks I’m shy,” Clara said, “Probably thinks I’m a ditz too.” she shook her head, “She doesn’t know who repaired some of those engines Fury’s mates dumped in her room. Probably just thinks they were super gentle with her stuff.” she shook her head, “You want to tell him that you took Antonia up on her offer, don’t you?” Clara said, not even looking up from her laptop screen.

Jamie looked up, “I just said yes to her, how did you even know.” She asked, and Clara smiled at her screen, then turned to her friend.

“Ever heard of the expression ‘watched like a hawk’? I guess you could say I am the hawk.” Clara said, and smirked to herself.

“You make pathetic analogies,” Jamie remarked.

“Have you told Stevie yet?” Clara said, closing her laptop and sitting up, looking straight at Jamie and raising an eyebrow.

“I dont see how that’s any of your business.” Jamie said, knowing she was getting more defensive than she should be.

“You’re scared of how she’s going to react, aren’t you?” Clara said, almost disappointed with her own words.

“Butt out, Clara” Jamie retorted like a child.

“Come on Jamie. You talk about everything with Stevie, why are you getting so worked up about something like this. You’re getting your arm. The arm you’ve wanted since you were 15. Why are you scared to tell your best friend?” Clara’s words got more and more excited on behalf of Jamie, but in her chest, Jamie could feel a sense of guilt swirling.

“Stevie always says stuff like ‘You don’t need your arm, you’re perfect without it’ and ‘You function just fine, don’t worry’. And ever since I’ve considered it, Stevie just doesn’t think it’s a good idea. I just want her to understand that I don’t feel normal, I want to feel normal.”  

“And Stevie will say you’re already normal.” Clara began, “But you know in your heart-”

“I’m not,” Jamie interrupted her, “I’m turning 21 in nearly 6 months. I just want to feel normal and be happy.” she said, cursing her voice as it cracked.

“Well, for starters, I have no idea how you plan on keeping it from her.” Clara said, with a small smile gracing her lips.

“I don’t plan on keeping it from her” Jamie said, almost worried that Clara would tell Stevie before she got the chance to explain herself.

“Good, because she’s probably coming back from her class about now.” and, as if on queue, they heard the door opening.

“I’m home,” they heard Stevie say as she walked through the house. Jamie looked at Clara, shocked, and Clara smiled like she had shown Jamie a miracle.

“Hawk.” Clara said, pointing to herself before getting up and walking from the room, a smirk on her face.

“Clara! You seen Buckie anywhere?” Jamie heard Stevie say from down the corridor.

“In here, Steve.” Jamie called, leaning back and making herself comfortable on the armchair.

“What’ve I told you about calling me Steve? I’m not a middle aged man going through an existential crisis.” Stevie said, walking into the room and sitting into the armchair next to Jamie, “You want to see what we did today?”

“Sure.” Jamie muttered, playing with a loose thread at the end of her shirt.

“Hey, you ‘right?” Stevie asked, pulling out her sketchbook and handing it to the brunette.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” she said, forcing confidence into her tone and looking up at her friend. “Haven’t looked through your book in a while, actually.” Jamie said as she took the book from her friend and opened it, flicking through the pages, “What are you focusing on this semester?” Jamie asked, noticing that the book was different from what she had originally seen.

“Oh, that’s a new one anyway - the other one filled up with designs for the wall inside and let’s be real - my lecturer doesn’t want to see that.” she said, laughing softly. “Um, we’re mainly focusing on our body of work and we’ve been thinking up concepts and they want us to submit a process journal and yeah - crazy.” Stevie said, casting her eyes downward when Jamie smiled at her.

“So, what’s your concept?” Jamie asked, paying attention to the detail of some of her friend’s artworks.

A harsh laugh escaped Stevie, “Vague at best - I barely understand it myself - but apparently flowers are a significant part.” she said, pointing to a few different flowers on the page before glancing at her friend’s face, “Might photograph you in a flower crown for part of it, Just so you know.”

“Ste-” Jamie started.

“It’s purely for the purpose of this assessment,” the blonde held up her hands defensively, and Jamie shook her head exasperatedly. “We also -” Stevie started with a smile on her face, flicking through some of the pages until she found the right one, opening the book to it, “- did some work on figure drawings, which apparently I’m not getting any better at. All’s well when its a monkey on a unicycle but as soon as it gets to body parts and natural movement my brain and my hands don’t sync up and-”

“It looks wonderful.” Jamie interrupted her, “I was always jealous when we were younger, you know?”  

“I had time to do art when you were too busy getting asked out on dates though.” Stevie said fondly.

“Pfft, as soon as you hit puberty it was like I was invisible.” Jamie retorted, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah and all was well until you did and got hotter.” Stevie shook her head, with her cheeks forming a stronger red.

“Yeah, until I got -” Jamie stopped herself, touching her prostectic arm, and Stevie’s eyes grew sad.

Stevie changed the subject quickly, “How’s Stark going? Has she given you any more grief -?”

“I said yes to her.” interrupting her friend without meeting her eyes.

“What?” Stevie asked, still flipping through her own book, but not paying much attention.

“I said yes about the arm - we’re starting next week.” Jamie said quickly, and Stevie finally looked up, her brow wrinkling.

“Buckie-” Stevie tried to speak, but Jamie started to ramble once more.

“No, Stevie, hear me out. I’m turning 21 in half a year’s time and I know you keep saying that I’m perfect without it and all I just want to be able to function like a normal person and now I’ve got this opportunity to and -”

“Buckie, Buckie listen to me.” Stevie’s brow had managed to crease completely while her friend spoke rapidly, “You honestly don’t need to defend your choice to me - especially in this situation. This is your decision.”

“Then why’ve you been saying so much against me doing it?” she asked, exhaling loudly.

“Because I know you. And I don’t want you to do it for any other reason than for you. I don’t want you to do it because of insecurities or so that people will stop staring at you. I want you to do it because you need it, because you really need it and want it for you.” she said, covering her friends hand with her smaller, delicate one, “Plus, I may or may not be biased and prefer drawing on an arm that can’t smack me when it gets annoying.”

Jamie let out a laugh, “Yes - you, Stephanie Rogers - the most selfless person in the world, don’t want me to get a working arm so it won’t affect you. How did I not catch on sooner.” she said sarcastically.  

A smile crossed the blonde’s face, and she tugged the girls arm from the position it was resting in, laying the palm flat on the armrest. She shuffled closer so she could reach the place where her shoulder and the prosthetic met, before pulling out her paints and some brushes.

“Stevie-”

“Shut up, you love it.” she said, squeezing some paint onto Jamie’s ‘bicep’.

“Brie’s going to kill you if you get it on the lounge.”

“That’s why I’m not going to get it on the lounge,” she muttered, squeezing more paint onto the girls arm before actually starting to paint on her forearm.

“Did I hear a paint cap!?” Brie yelled from upstairs, causing Stevie to giggle softly.

“Brie is like a hawk.”

“WRONG! I AM THE HAWK” Clara yelled.

“FUCK OFF CLARA!” Jamie yelled back, and Stevie smacked her softly.

“Don’t be rude.” she muttered.

“You’re such a peacemaker I love it.” Jamie said, using her free hand to tap her friend on the nose.

Stevie smacked her hand away, “Don’t patronise me.”

“Whatcha doin, nerds?” they heard Toni’s voice as she strolled into the room.

“From the fact that you’re majoring in a science I think it’s safe to say you’re the nerd.” Stevie said quietly, just loud enough so that Jamie could hear, causing a snigger to come from the girl.

Stevie cursed as her friend jolted forward, “Stay still.” she stressed, using a tissue to wipe the paint that had streaked.

“You do realise that she’s getting that arm removed like next week so there’s no point in you putting effort into making it pretty for her.” Toni said, trying to irritate the girl.

“If you’re looking for a fight, go find Brie. Clara and Thelia have a bet going on to see how long it’ll take you to get her to smash the new plates.” Stevie said, concentrating on painting the arm.

“I give it nine days, tops.” Clara said as she walked into the room, bow in hand, “You’re too much of an ass for her kindness towards you to last any longer.” she walked straight past the sitting area and adopted a position on the window sill with an arrow aimed out the open window.

“You are wrong Clara,” Thelia said, walking into the room and setting her hammer down on the coffee table before slumping into an armchair, “Brielle has a gentle soul. She won’t want to destroy her friendship with Antonia if she can help it.”

“You know you get more and more profound by the day.” Jamie said to Thelia, “You pretentious fuck.”

A laugh bubbled from Stevie lips a Jamie’s last comment before she composed herself, “What did I say about being rude.”

“I’m home!” they heard Nathan call from up the hallway.

“We’re in here.” Clara called back.

Nathan came into the room, staggering slightly under the weight of the books he was holding, “Did you guys know that the library got new books?” he put them on the table next to Thelia’s hammer before sinking into a chair, flipping one book open. He removed some glasses from his pocket and slipped them onto the edge of his nose, looking like the pretentious and smart idiot everyone in the house knew him to be.

“Nerd” Clara whispered, and Nathan simply gave her the finger. “Rude” She muttered, and Nathan smiled.

“Go shoot arrows at the neighbours, I’m sure they’d love to get ‘Asshole’ spelled on their house again”

“I’m thinking of changing it to ‘Dickheads’, but asshole will always be a classic.”

“You two are so juvenile.” Stevie piped in.

“I’m not juvenile, she is.” Nathan retorted like a child, knowing it will spark a greater flirting match with Clara, something they regularly got into.

“Do you guys ever actually leave the house? Or do you enjoy sitting here and embracing your inner nerds.” Antonia interrupted.

“We could go to the bar a few streets over? We haven’t been there in ages.” Jamie said hopefully.

“Yeah, we can go - as soon as we’re all allowed to according to the law.” Stevie said, reminding the group that most of them were underage.

“Come on, Brie’s sixteen years old-” Jamie started.

“I’m actually closer to seventeen you know.” Brie interrupted as she walked into the room, a pile of research papers in her hands. “And Stevie - what have I said about paint on the lounges.”

“Brie there are more pressing matters at hand!” Clara said from the window

“Do we really want to wait for her to come of age? No. We don’t.” Nathan took over.

“Plus, Toni needs to be initiated.” Clara said, putting down her bow and getting up, running into the kitchen.

“I thought the arm thing was the initiation.” Toni said, shooting a betrayed look at Jamie.

“Nah, the proper initiation - that we’ve all been through - is the Thelia Odinson Drinking Game.” Brielle said quietly, smiling slightly at the memories she had of everyone else’s initiation.

“That sounds cute, you and your little gang of nerds named a drinking game after the head nerd.”

“Excuse me?” Thelia had pulled her hammer into her lap, but gasped in horror at the comment.

“Thelia is not the head nerd.” Nathan said.

“Anyway, it’s relatively simple,” Clara said as she reentered the room with seven glasses on a tray with four different bottles of alcohol, “you’ve just got to, you know, go against Thelia until one of you a) gives up or b) gets alcohol poisoning.” Clara smiled brightly at Toni, like this was a regular occurrence.

“Doing it here is much more logical, much less a risk of poor Toni making a fool of herself.” Thelia said confidently.

“Am I the only one who is seeing how illegal this is?”  Stevie had stopped painting Jamie’s arm and was looking at Nathan with a raised eyebrow.

He put his hands up defensively, “Excuse me, I’m 22.”

“A yes, you’re of age and providing alcohol to minors - very legal.” Jamie said sarcastically, smiling widely.

“Wait, so I have to get into a drinking game with Thelia?” Toni interrupted, almost shocked, but a slight confidence in her voice. Clara took Toni and Thelia’s arms, guiding them to the dining room table, and sitting them down across from each other. Clara filled the two large glasses with beer, and smiled at Toni.

“No one has beaten Thelia” Clara then took a small sip from her own glass which she had poured after the two girls’ drinks. “Not even Fury.”

“Is that supposed to scare me?” Toni said

“The only person that has come close is Stevie, and she can hold her liquor pretty well.” Nathan recalled, “That was a wild night.”

“Stevie? As in Stephanie?” She looked right at the girl in disbelief before turning back to Nathan, “As in the little one who’s the human embodiment of a flower fairy? I don’t believe you.”                

“Watch it Stark, I am sitting right here.” she said indignantly, returning to painting Jamie’s arm. Jamie stood, and gathered around the table, along with Nathan and Brie. Stevie’s brow creased as Jamie unintentionally smudged the paint on her prosthetic arm.

“I feel as though I’m being threatened by a little fluffball. I don’t believe it, I honestly can’t.” Toni sat back in her chair, confident on her win.

“Shut up and drink.” Stevie said, “I bet you twenty bucks you won’t even come close to what I got.” Toni glared at Stevie, and downed the entire glass of beer without even flinching.

“I’ll raise your twenty, and bet fifty bucks she won’t even beat Brie’s score of four glasses” Clara laughed to herself, managing to get back from the kitchen with some vodka - which the group hid near the sugary treats that Stevie avoided most of the time.

“I’m only sixteen, it’s not my fault I can’t handle my liquor too well.” Brie retorted, and Nathan ruffled her hair, smiling and laughing at the tiny girl.

“I bet you all one hundred dollars that doing this in broad daylight was a stupid ass decision.” the voice of Nick Fury caused everyone to jump slightly, and Clara let out a slight scream.

“What the fuck?!” Toni yelled. “How the hell did he get in here. Did anyone hear him?”

Stevie laughed and rolled her eyes at the girl, “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, nothing much. Besides a few anonymous tips the police got about alcohol being provided to minors.” He shot his eye at Nathan, and Nathan smiled like he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“By that he means he saw us drinking on the cameras and got offended for not being invited.” Clara stated.

“Cameras?!” Toni’s voice cracked, and the group broke into a soft giggling, knowing the cause of the discovery.

“Or was scared Toni would be added to the list of people who beat his score.” Nathan suggested, smirking at the director.

“Cameras.” Fury added, looking at Toni, not tiring from his angered stare.

“Nathan learnt about the cameras the hard way, didn’t he?” Clara said, winking at the redhead.

“Y’all teenagers are real stupid. You know that.” Fury said, tucking his hands into his pockets.

“Which translates to ‘scared another girl will beat his score’” Clara said, and Fury stared at the bunch like they were his target and he was ready to shoot.

“I put my money on Thelia” He said, and everyone erupted into cheers. The night continued until around 12am, in which the group split up around the large house and they drunk until they forgot everything that happened afterwards. The main thing Jamie remembered was Toni promising to put missiles in the new arm to ward off douchebags that would try to hit on her.


	4. maybe i fell in love when you woke me up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH WOW LORDY I AM AN UTTER TIT PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN
> 
> I DECIDED TO ADD SOME SHIT TO THE END LAST MINUTE AND SO WE DIDN'T UPDATE WHEN WERE MEANT TO THEN WE BOTH HAD CAMP(ish) AND AGH
> 
> I'M EDITING CHAPTER 5 RIGHT NOW SO WE'LL PROBABLY UPLOAD IT WITHIN THE NEXT HALF HOUR
> 
> PLEASE LOVE US GUYS
> 
> xx

Stevie woke up, her head beating slightly; remembering the sounds from the night before. She managed to hoist herself into a sitting position on her mattress, stretching her arms high above her head and hearing her back crack.

“Fucking disgusting.” she jumped at the sound of Buckie’s voice so close, and glanced down to see her friend half naked and lying on the floor, “Steeeeeeeevie,” Buckie groaned into the carpet.

Stevie sighed, “Do you want to get up and lie on the bed?”

“Fuck off.”

The blonde rolled her eyes before draping a blanket on top of her friend, “Go back to sleep,” she pulled a pillow of the bed and put it under Buckie’s head, ruffling her hair softly, “I’m gonna go make breakfast.”

No answer came from the girl, so Stevie quietly left the room in her pyjamas, trying to be as quiet as possible as she made her way to the kitchen. “Morning,” she said when she noticed Brie sitting at the counter.

Brie looked up, “Oh, morning Steph.” she said, rubbing her temples and groaning.

Stevie rolled her eyes, “Someone drank too much last night, didn’t they?” she said, filling the kettle and boiling it.

“I didn’t even drink that much.” she whined.

“Everyone’s tolerance for alcohol is different.” Stevie shrugged, leaning against the bench. “How much did you have last night?”

“I don’t know, four… maybe five glasses?” Brie guessed.

Stevie smiled, biting her lip to hold in a laugh before Brie noticed, “You’ve still got time to grow.” she settled on.

“Oh shut up, you’re just an alcohol snob because you never get drunk. Or have hangovers. How do you even do that?”

Stevie laughed, pushing off the counter and opening the fridge. She pulled a carton of eggs from the top shelf and a frying pan from the cupboard, “I think I’ll make a greasy breakfast for everyone, yes?” she said, tying her hair into a bun and earning an appreciative groan from Brie.

~*~*~*~

Half an hour later had Brie, Thelia, Toni and Fury slumped over the kitchen counter, nursing a mug of black coffee each.

“You owe me twenty bucks, Toni.” Stevie said, putting a plate of food in front of her and smiling sweetly, before getting plates for everybody else. Toni narrowed her eyes at Stevie, making a shushing noise before digging into the plate in front of her. She held her a hand to her head and lazily put the food into her mouth, groaning as she tasted the amazing food Stevie always managed to produce.

“She owes me a new liver.” Thelia said loudly, causing everybody to flinch. She pulled her plate closer, eating like she wasn’t hungover at all. She was just enjoying her victory over Toni. Still undefeated.

“Barton owes someone 50, you did much better than Brie did,” Stevie said as she put remaining three plates on a tray with cups of coffee for Clara, Nathan, and Jamie.

“Come on, Steph. Give me a break.” Brie groaned, head hidden in her crossed arms.

“I’m going to go feed the rest of them,” Stevie said, picking up the tray and making her way upstairs.

~*~*~*~

Stevie knocked on Nathan’s door lightly, in case he had drunk as much as Clara had when Stevie last saw them. There was no verbal or physical answer for her knock, she opened the door carefully, carefully balancing the tray on one arm. She peered into the room, and managed to see a lump of sheets covering Nathan’s sleeping body. Stevie cracked the door open wider, and walked in, ready to set down his breakfast, and then move onto Clara’s bedroom. As Stevie got closer, she saw a sight she could only imagine for Nathan. Clara was laying on Nathan’s chest, and his hand was placed on her back, holding her body close to his as she slept. Her hand had clutched itself onto his shirt, and Nathan had a large smile imprinted onto his lips. Stevie nudged him, not really wanting to wake him up, but had to, to make sure he could sober up for his afternoon class that day. Nathan managed to open his eyes without jumping like Clara usually would if someone were to wake her up. He looked at Stevie, then down at Clara, and Stevie could have sworn his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

“Hey Nate” Stevie whispered, and Nathan put a finger to his lips.

“Please don’t wake her” He whispered back, voice rough from sleep, before glancing down at Clara and smiling. Stevie’s smile grew and she nodded, shaking like she was ready to squeal.

She placed the tray of food on his bedside table. “Breakfast is here for you two, strong coffee and everything, you have class this afternoon, remember.” She said, and he nodded but didn’t look at her. He was more concentrated on the girl laying on top of him. He gently ran the fingers of his free hand through her hair, causing her to smile and let a contented sound come from her mouth as she curled up more on his chest. “I’ll leave you two okay?” Stevie said, not even waiting for a response as she picked up the plate and coffee to take to Buckie.

“Okay,” He managed to say, and Stevie turned around before she left, noticing Clara moving up more on his chest, like the sensation of Nathan’s voice provided so much comfort and happiness. But, in the process of doing this, Clara’s hand slapped Nathan’s face lightly. He chuckled, giving the impression that he didn’t mind, and held Clara closer to him.

“Hey, stop that,” He chuckled, and Clara hit him in the face again.

“You’re a pussy. Get used to it” Clara mumbled into his chest, and Nathan tried not to laugh as he curled his arms tighter around her, almost like he wanted to keep her there as long as he could.

~*~*~*~

Stevie tried her hardest to enter her room without making any noise, but still stumbled slightly, almost spilling the coffee in her hand onto the floor. Buckie was still out, snoring softly on the floor with her prosthetic arm curled under her body. Stevie gently placed the coffee and plate on the bedside table, before sitting on the floor, “Buckie,” she whispered, placing a hand on her waist and squeezing gently.

“Go ‘way,” her voice was muffled by the pillow as she smacked Stevie’s hand away.

“Come on, I brought you coffee and breakfast.” she said, “Don’t make me open the curtains.” she said sternly.

“Okay,” she relented, rolling over and staring at Stevie, “Where’s my coffee?” she asked, trying to sit up. Stevie leaned forward and offered Buckie some support as she sat up, and smiled softly at the disgusted expression on her face, “I have such a headache.” she groaned, massaging her head.

“This always happens after you drink,” Stevie laughed, “All of you are so weak.” she said jokingly, earning a glare from her friend. “You’ll never guess what I just saw though,” Stevie said, a squeal almost slipping into her tone as she grabbed the coffee and handed it to Buckie.

“Nick Fury regretting his life decisions?” she asked, head falling to rest on the bedside table.

“I meant after that,” Stevie sat up straighter, “I think I just saw Nathan and Clara finally getting together. I mean how long has it been since they started flirting?” she rested back against the bed, bringing her knees up and resting her chin on them.

"They definitely needed a good fuck."

“I don’t think they fucked,” Jamie’s eyebrows shot up at Stevie’s uncharacteristic usage of the swear, and the blonde just shrugged before continuing, “but I think they’re finally getting somewhere.”

“Now there’s going to be more sexual tension then there already is.” Jamie put the coffee cup down and groaned, dramatically lying back down.

Stevie giggled,“True … Are you going to talk to Toni about the arm?”

“When we’re both sober.” Jamie mumbled into the carpet, bringing her leg up to poke Stevie’s leg with her toe, “Maybe she can make me a mechanical liver as well.”

“I’m making my own, get in line armless,” Toni said, popping her head inside the room

“The arm may be fake but it’s still a deadly weapon.” Jamie said threateningly, rolling over and narrowing her eyes.

“Oi, c’mon, I have to run some tests, and you still have to tell me about how you lost it, remember.” Toni said, smirking at Jamie before leaving the room.

Jamie rolled back over as Stevie reached across the floor of her room, picking up a dress and handing it to her friend, “Put this on and follow her majesty.” she said mockingly.

Jamie laughed before pursing her lips slightly, “Can you come with me?” she asked, “I just need to feel safe, okay?” Jamie mumbled defensively, eyes darting from her hands to her friend, waiting for an answer.

Stevie smiled, gently rubbing the girls shoulder, “Of course, come on.” she said, getting up and straightening her clothes out. “I have class in a few hours though,” she sighed, picking up her sketchbook and tucking it under her arm before sticking a pencil through her bun. She glanced down to see her friend trying to stand up and bent down, helping the girl to her feet.

“I’m not a fucking baby,” the brunette mumbled half-heartedly.

Stevie rolled her eyes, “You’ve got a hangover, don’t be such a soldier.” she poked the girl’s rib, giggling.

“If you weren’t so tiny I would’ve probably beat you up by now.” Jamie muttered, slinging her arm over the blonde as they walked from the room.

Stevie poked her rib again, “Don’t patronise me.” she said, frowning.

Jamie laughed loudly, throwing her head back, “You say that too much.”

“I’ll stop saying it when you all stop patronising me.” she said. “Don’t let anything she says get to you, okay?” Stevie said, wrapping an arm around Jamie’s waist. “Her filter capacity is zero.” she muttered.

“I know,”  Jamie reassured her, taking a deep breath as they stopped at Antonia’s door, releasing it as Stevie knocked softly.

~*~*~*~

Stevie spent and hour in the room, perched on one of the desks and watching Toni intently as she worked on her friend’s arm. Once the first hour was over, she remembered that she’d brought her book with her and decided that she may as well draw the girls.

It was hard - Toni kept moving around and getting aggravated with the arm, swearing and taking the arm apart before starting over again. Buckie seemed uneasy the whole time, and Stevie reassured her regularly, making sure she was alright and telling her that she was allowed to stop whenever she wanted to.

After three hours, Toni's eyes grew worried, she’d completely detached the prosthetic from Jamie’s shoulder, and rather than altering the arm to make it functional, she had decided to build a new one from scratch.

“It’s going to take a while for me to get all the parts I need, but with what I do have I can make some prototypes and maybe start on the shoulder. I have to attach an actual element to your arm.” Toni sat back and sighed, staring at Jamie.

“What does that mean?” Stevie leaned forward, intrigued.

“I’m going to have to get medical” Toni told her, “It’s not a purely physical procedure, you see. We’ve got to get the arm moving at Jamie’s command.”

“Aren’t you an engineering major?” Stevie asked, wondering how Toni was going to any of the medical side of this without negatively affecting Jamie.

“Yes. But I have done research on the medical advancements of engineering, and I have a pretty good idea on how to do this.” Toni reassured her, aiming it at Jamie with a small smile.

“Do what exactly?”

“I am essentially going to attach your nerve endings to a metal prosthetic. It will operate exactly like an arm. It’s just that the procedure is quite painful, and will often leave you tired during the making of it. I can promise you that it will get easier, but the starting off period with the shoulder will be the most excruciating pain of your life.”

“Besides the pain of losing the arm?” Jamie asked, forcing herself to make the situation lighter than it was.

Toni smiled, “I’m going to be messing around with the exposed nerve endings - it will hurt like a bitch.”

“Can you get anaesthetic.” Stevie piped in, setting her book aside and pulling the chair from under the desk to sit next to Jamie.

“I wish I could,” Toni said pitifully, “Unless Nathan can get them - but it would take a while before we can start using them.”

“What about Fury?” Stevie suggested.

“There’s a bit of an illegal aura about this - I’d rather not get Fury involved.”

“Do you want me to stay.” Stevie asked Jamie, offering her a small smile.

“No,” Jamie shifted in the uncomfortable seat, “No, it’s fine, go to your class.”

“It’s fine - I can miss it if you need me here.”

“I probably won’t start attaching anything to her for a few hours - probably not even until tomorrow. You’ll be fine to go to your class, I’ve just got to run a few tests on young Jamie then she can get out of my hair and I can make her an arm.”

Stevie sighed, “Okay.” she pressed her lips to Jamie’s forehead, “You’ll be fine, Buck,” she whispered, before standing up and walking towards the door, “See ya, Toni,” she waved over her shoulder and headed to her room to get ready for her class.

 

~*~*~*~

Stevie took her time getting to class. Her head and heart were at a battle, trying to decide whether or not it was was a good idea to leave Jamie on her own in such a situation. Stevie felt as though she was abandoning a person she cared more about than anyone else. She could only imagine the trauma it would cause her, as the painful experience could bring back memories. Jamie didn’t need that, and she certainly didn’t need to be alone. She was with Toni, but Toni was the one conducting the ‘surgery’ and wouldn’t be able to hold Jamie’s hand. Stevie couldn’t do that to Jamie. Stevie stood in front of the lecture doors, but she didn’t touch the handle. Instead, she raced back home and hopefully she would make it in time to help her friend get through the experience. 


	5. wrestle to the ground, god help me now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know i said the next half hour yes i know i am trash but it here
> 
> (chapter six is coming this week and then we should regulate the updates ^.^)
> 
> xx

Thelia managed to get herself out of bed, a sense of dread filling her as her mind reminded her of the day ahead; a meeting with the college administrator, as well as a bound-to-be uncomfortable lunch with her father and her sister, Laicey, who had come to hate Thelia over the years. They’d had a smooth and loving relationship when they were young, but as the years went on, Laicey envied Thelia and her relationship with their father more and more, and eventually the two stopped talking. Thelia missed her younger sister, but the lunches she usually had with her father were very organised things. Discussion on Thelia’s spending habits were usually the most debated, and Thelia dreaded the day even more considering her most recent … purchase.

The college administrator had heard of Thelia’s hammer, and the fact that it was ‘stolen’ from the school, which was a rumour spread by her idiot roomates Jamie and Clara. With a roll of her eyes she packed the hammer into her backpack and went downstairs for breakfast.

Stevie was sitting at the kitchen bench, reading the newspaper as she usually would in the mornings, at the sound of Thelia’s footsteps she glanced up, smiling at her friend. “You’re up,” She said happily, and it was odd to Thelia that someone could be that happy when they woke up.

“College Administrator meeting,” Thelia said simply, and Stevie nodded.

“Sorry to hear about that. Mr Hill is super nice though, maybe whatever you’re being called there for is for a good reason,” Stevie reassured her.

Thelia took an energy bar from the cupboard, and smiled weakly at Stevie, “What good have I ever done, Stevie?” Thelia asked, picking up her backpack and leaving the house.

~*~*~*~

Thelia took a deep breath before entering the office. It was a large room, very high class and elaborate with it’s modernised white pristine. A single desk sat at the end of the room, with a man writing things down like a madman. He must have heard Thelia as he looked up and smiled at the blonde.

“Oh, hello Miss Odin-son” He said, sounding obnoxiously official, and Thelia almost winced at the mispronunciation of her family name.

“It’s pronounced Odinsen, just for clarification, Mr Hill,” He stood up and offered her a seat, and Thelia gave him a tight smile as they both sat down. She placed her backpack on the ground, and it fell heavily, which indicated the hammer that was causing Thelia so much grief. Thelia looked up at Hill’s desk, seeing a plaque that was almost showboating is title. ‘College Administrator: Martin Hill’

“You know why you’re here, Miss Odinson. The hammer,” Thelia nodded, and removed the hammer from her backpack. It was in much better condition than it had been when the college owned it, and Thelia would go so far as to say its current condition was beyond perfect, with each detail finally showing it’s remarkable colour and the workmanship that was placed on the weapon.

“Sir, this hammer was not stolen. I bought it with my own money once the school had decided to get rid of it. It was a marvelous piece of weaponry, and no one appreciated it, but I did.” Thelia said, her passion towards the amazing weapon showing through her tone and in her words.

“You said you bought it. That would have cost you quite a lot of money,” Mr Hill adjusted himself in his seat.

“It did. All my money. All $15,000 I had from my parents, and I spent it on this hammer for my own benefit,” Thelia said, with a steadiness in her voice.

“Miss Odinson.” he interrupted her, frowning, “The trouble is that you’ve been neglecting your other subjects. I don’t know if that is a result of this hammer, but its not coincidental. The rumours were just the cause of us looking through your records. You need to pick up another class to keep your grades up.” he said forwardly.

Thelia sighed, deciding against arguing with the Administrator, “So what classes can I choose to apply for?”

Hill shuffled some papers on his desk, looking through them before pulling one from the stack, “Only one class is available for your timetable, should you keep what you’re already studying.”

“It’s another science isn’t it?” Thelia asked, knowing full it would be.

“Astronomy.” He said bluntly, and Thelia could feel herself losing faith in all of humanity.

“Well, it does go with my physics class” Thelia groaned, slouching in her chair.

~*~*~*~

“I have to take astronomy to keep up my grade and out of trouble,”  Thelia groaned as she walked into the kitchen where the rest of her friends were, dropping her bag on the floor and taking her hammer with her to the table where she sank into a chair.

“I heard a rumour that a student is teaching astronomy cause he’s like a genius or something,” Jamie said, glancing slightly in Thelia’s direction before looking back down at her textbook.

“I don’t think I need another genius in my life,” Thelia said bitterly, examining the hammer she’d set on the table.

“Well, your last boyfriend wasn’t exactly a genius, so it’s kind of a step up,” Clara said, sitting on top of the kitchen bench.

“I don’t plan on dating him,” she said, shooting a dirty look in Clara’s direction.

Clara smiled suggestively, “Whatever you say,” she said, pulling one of her bows from where she hid it in the kitchen cupboard.

“What’s the teacher’s name?”  Nathan asked her, sitting down on a chair in front of Clara.

“All it says is Foster,” Thelia pulled out the piece of paper Hill had given to her, handing it to Nathan, who glanced at it before putting it down on the bench.

“Never heard of them,” Brie said, walking in and out of the room like she was a soft cloud passing over a city.

“Make sure you put your classes on the timetable on the fridge so we know to wake you.” Stevie advised, looking up from her sketchbook momentarily.

“Yeah, man, your sleeping pattern is fucked.” Toni walked into room, slumping into a chair across from Thelia.

“Your only hope is us waking you up for your  7 am tutorials.” Jamie said, laughing.

“Weren’t you supposed to have lunch with your dad?” Clara said, shooting an arrow out the window.

“Shit,” Thelia yelled, abruptly dropping the hammer and running from the room.

~*~*~*~

 

Thelia raced into the restaurant that her father had picked out, a place where she felt completely underdressed in her red flannelette shirt and black skinny jeans. She saw her father and her sister both sitting at a table in the corner, identical anger gracing their brows. Thelia ran over to the table, avoiding the staff, and making sure not to knock anything over - something she was prone to doing.

“Sorry I’m late, issues at school,” Thelia mumbled, sitting down opposite her family members.

“I would hope not,” Her father said monotonously, sending a shiver down Thelia’s spine. Her father, Oliver Odinson, was not a particularly tolerant man when it came to disobedience. And as far as he was concerned, spending $15,000 on an ancient hammer was disobedient enough. He tossed Thelia papers with her bank transactions on them.

“Is this why you have not returned any phone calls?”

“It was for a good reason.” Thelia protested weakly.

“You bought a hammer. I don’t think father sees that as a good reason,” Laicey said, and Oliver simply raised a hand to her, which silenced her quickly.

“I gave you that money to live on for years, not for you to spend it on a stupid item.” Thelia knew that her father was trying to keep himself from losing his temper in the restaurant.

“As far as you’re concerned father, this hammer is everything to me. I’d rather not discuss it anymore.” Thelia said bluntly, and sunk into her chair. The lunch itself arrived and went fairly quickly, and Thelia regretted the fact that she was a fast eater on this one occasion.

“I want you to come home, Thelia,” Oliver said, and Thelia bound her fist.

“What did I say last time you asked?” Thelia said evenly, trying to to hit her clenched fist against the table, “My choice has not changed. I like where I am in my life, I don’t need you to look after me anymore.”

“Father doesn’t need you home, he needs you to stop being the reckless little brat you always are.”

“Laicey!” Oliver said, and Thelia stood up abruptly.

“If this is true, then I’ll leave you two for the rest of your meal, because whatever you have to say, I do not want to hear a single word of it.” Thelia tried as hard as she could not to hit the table with all the will power she had before she turned and left.

When Thelia made it to her car, she slumped heavily into the driver's seat, hitting her head against her steering wheel lightly, an urge to scream rising within her. Once she’d fought it down she pulled her phone out of her pocket, dialling the house, hoping that the person who answered was anyone but Clara.

“Hello?” Clara said, her voice tired and strained.

“Clara, I need to talk with someone other than you right now,” Thelia pressed her hand to her forehead, feeling an anger resrufacing and building high in her chest.

“Wow, dude, what’s up?” Clara said, with actual concern in her voice.

“It’s my bloody father again. I can’t stand it!” She yelled, and hit her car horn. It blared and Thelia leant back into her chair.

“Calm down. C’mon, talk it out before you blow a blood vessel or something,” Clara said calmly, and Thelia took deep breaths. “You okay to talk now?” she heard Clara ask down the line, and Thelia began to express her rage and frustration. She spoke about missing her mother more than anything in the world, and why meeting with her father reminded her why she missed her mother so much. She used to calm him down, and with Laicey always in his ear, pestering him, he was more anxious with Thelia away from home.

“Thank you, Clara.” Thelia said after venting a large amount in about 10 minutes.

“No problem, Thelia. Come home, I have a surprise for you,” Clara said, and before Thelia could reply the line went dead.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Thelia made her way home, and walked to the front door. She was about to open the door when Clara came rushing out. She took Thelia’s hand and pulled her around to the side of the house. ‘Thelia rules’ was written in arrows across the neighbour’s house and at the ends of the arrows were bright neon lights.

“You’re going to run out of arrows one of these days,” Thelia said, looking down at Clara, who was admiring her handy work.

“They just chuck them out once they manage to get them down. I just get them when they don’t notice,” Thelia took Clara under her arm, holding her in a tight headlock, causing Clara to laugh, hugging Thelia side on.

~*~*~*~

The day after her frustrating lunch with her father and sister, Thelia made it to the kitchen where Nathan and Brie had set themselves up. Brie hadn’t been sleeping well over the last couple of days. No one knew why, but Nathan always helped Brie either get back to sleep or he would stay up with her, making sure she felt happy. They were best friends, there was no denying that, they understood each other more than anyone else did.

“Any sleep last night?” Thelia asked, concerned for Brie.

“Just another nightmare is all,” Brie said with a shrug, smiling as she held her mug tightly in her hands.

“I’ll make something for you,” Thelia offered, and Brie started to nod before Nathan moved to get pots out.

“Pancakes?” Brie asked excitedly. Thelia smiled and nodded, which made Brie happy.

“Thanks for making them,” Nathan whispered, pulling ingredients down from the cupboard and handing them to her.

“It’s not a problem. She’s my friend too,” Thelia said, getting some of the ingredients out from the fridge. Thelia probably made half the batch, with most of them going to Brie who eagerly sat waiting for more.

They heard a knock from the third floor, something they were used to after Jamie had started to receive her new arm, but today was different; there was a loud scream, and they heard Jamie’s excited voice travelling down the hallway, “Oh, my fucking God!” followed by another another scream, and loud footsteps racing around the house. They eventually came down the stairs very quickly, and Jamie slid into the kitchen in her socks. She was physically drained as her hair was like a fluffball, her clothes were stained with either food or oil, and they seemed to be the same clothes that Jamie was in two days before hand. She wore boxer shorts she managed to steal from Nathan, and a shirt from a band that was unrecognisable after all its wear over time. But, the most noticeable thing was Jamie’s left shoulder. It was hanging lower than her right shoulder, and it had a metallic joint which could attach an arm. It was the first part of her arm, and Jamie was obviously overexcited.  

“Look at it! I have a proper shoulder,” a giggle burst from the girl, and she looked as though she was ready to bounce off the walls. The metalwork that was now on Jamie’s arm seemed to weigh her down, but the smile on her face was so large, Thelia had never seen her this way, ever. Thelia was beyond pleased with the arrangement of Jamie’s arm, and  wondered absently what Jamie’s reaction would be when she got the full arm, and it was fully operational.

“Wow, slow down there kid.” Toni followed Jamie into the room, dark circles showing under her eyes. She grabbed Brie’s coffee mug off her as she passed the girl, taking a mouthful and cringing as she followed Jamie, “I have to make sure this thing won’t hurt you, get back to the lab,” Toni said, inspecting the shoulder as she placed the mug down on the counter. Toni took some sort of instrument that sparked the metal on Jamie’s arm. Thelia put on a pot of coffee, making sure it would be ready for her class.

“I’ve been in that lab for five days now, I wanted to show it off!” Jamie said, with full pride in her shoulder flourishing in her words. “I’ve barely even had time to pee, eat or change,” Jamie complained, leaning away from Toni.

“Just get up stairs, and maybe you can get an arm,” At the mention of the word ‘arm’ sent Jamie into a frenzy, and she raced back upstairs. Toni rolled her eyes, and Thelia handed Toni her mug of coffee instead of having it herself. Toni nodded and headed back up the stairs to her lab.

“How did you get up this morning?” Brie asked, stealing a half baked pancake from the pan.

“Toni and Jamie were arguing and Toni’s lab is right above my room, so I decided to get up,” Thelia said, with a yawn soon picking up as she finished her sentence.

“You should probably get going then,” Brie said, tapping her wrist where her watch would be. Thelia looked at her watch noticing she was going to be late if she didn’t leave at that moment.

“Shit” She muttered, and raced out the front door.

~*~*~*~

Thelia practically ran to her class, not wanting to give a bad impression by arriving late to a class she needed because of a lack of commitment. But thirty minutes later had Thelia sitting in a large, empty, lecture hall, and the silence was unbearable. She clicked her pen, and it echoed loudly in the hall. She groaned, and paced around the desk, she had been waiting impatiently the entire time and there was no sign of her teacher, not even books left for them to come back to. It was new like all the other lecture halls, but it was too clean, untainted by pen marks on tables, and gum on the back of chairs. Thelia was tired of waiting for a teacher to show up, which was probably due to the fact that Thelia was the only student in the class. Thelia went to her desk, that was in the front of the room, like the good student she always was. She picked up her books, and left the hall, regretting evening coming to this class.

She started to walk down the hall of science section of their college and hitched up her backpack. As she kept walking, someone ran into her full speed from around the corner. They both hit the floor, and Thelia stayed on the floor out of frustration. She was tired, and she just wanted the day to be over.

“I’m so sorry!” A boy said, and Thelia looked up, noticing a tall looking boy in a dorky sweater. He had glasses that had hit the floor in the fall, and was fumbling with books. He was an honest-to-God mess. Thelia stood and huffed, but finally took a good look at the boy who ran into her. He had mousey brown hair, which almost stood up, but hung slightly in front of his glasses. His cheeks were full , but his cheekbones were clear and his jaw was sharp, Thelia nearly had to touch it, it was so mesmerising. His eyes were a golden brown, and drew Thelia in enough that she sighed out of amazement. Another book fell from the boys arms, and he bent down quickly to pick it up.

“Oh sorry, Hi,” The awkward boy introduced himself, fumbling over his books again, but never taking his eyes off of Thelia.

“Would you like a picture. I’m sure it would last a hell of a lot longer than you staring,” Thelia said, succumbing to Toni’s sarcasm and embracing it fully. The boy laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks grew redder.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, but I just haven’t seen you around before,” The boy dropped his books, and he tried not to curse under his breath. Thelia bent down before the boy had the chance and grabbed the books he dropped. All of them had ‘James Foster’ at the bottom of them, and Thelia glanced at the covers to notice that they were all astronomy books.

“Wait, are you the guy that’s teaching my class?” Thelia said looking up at James.

“You’re the girl that’s my only student?” He said, with a large smile growing on his face.

“Thelia Odinson,” She extended her hand, and James struggled with his books as Thelia handed them over.

“James Foster,” He said, taking her hand and shaking it lightly.

“You’re late to our class,” Thelia mocked.

“They just told me that you signed up” James’ smile grew on his lips, and Thelia could feel her cheeks flushing. Thelia bit her lip, ruffling up her hair, and leaning her weight on her right side.

“Well, I guess that means we should go to class,” She chuckled, and James turned to lead her to the classroom where she had just come from. “Where are we going to start?” Thelia said, nudging the boy with her hip. He almost collapsed over, and tried to recover, but his cheeks burned red, like he was more embarrassed now than he had ever been before in his life. “Sorry” Thelia said, trying to get the boy rebalanced, but he was like a deer on ice; unable to stand and could slip over at any moment.

"No, you're alright, just wasn't ready," he said, his voice a little shaky as he spoke.

"Are you alright, James? Do I call you James, or Mr Foster"  Thelia asked as they walked into the classroom.

"You can call me anything you want," His face burned so red, Thelia was surprised he wasn’t a tomato. "NOT LIKE THAT, I SWEAR!" He said, putting his books on his desk and avoiding her gaze.

“I’ll just call you James,” Thelia laughed, touching James’ arm comfortingly.

“Shall we start?” He asked, and Thelia sat at her desk, nodding in the process.

Thelia sat at the front of the room, her cheek pressed against her hand, with drool slowly dripping down her wrist, though James didn’t see. At this point in time, she finally was paying attention to him. Before, he was awkward, and couldn’t stand on his own two legs, but as he stood at the front of the class, his posture changed, he stood tall and talked at rapid speed, like he was an over excited puppy or something. Thelia found it cute. She made sure she was paying attention, or at least looked like she was paying attention, because she sure didn’t want to disappoint this guy.


End file.
